Johan Bonekamp recently obtained his PhD at Tilburg University. He wrote five essays, all dealing with personal finance before and after retirement. An interview. Name: Dr. Johan Bonekamp   PhD defense: 23 Juni 2021 at the Tilburg School of Economics and Management, Tilburg University Doctoral thesis: Studies on labour supply, spending and saving before and after retirement What was the starting point for your…

“Robustly optimising an individual’s pension even when many factors are unknown” In the new Dutch pension agreement, pension funds will switch from collective to individual pensions. Participants will have a personal pension capital that will be invested according to their age and risk aversion to reach a target pension. Information needed to determine the optimal investment policy in such a scenario is often missing…

Recent financial media articles and research suggest that the stocks of firms with a stronger environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating might perform better during crises. An extensive analysis of 6,000 stocks in 45 countries during the COVID-19 crisis and a longer-term analysis over 2003-2020 cast doubts on this view. There is little evidence that strong ESG stocks perform better or worse than other…

Judith Bom recently obtained her PhD at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She showed that informal caregivers can be stressed by the care and that people who are entering a nursing home do not appear to be worse off than they were at home. An interview. Name: Dr. Judith Bom   PhD defense: 17 June 2021 at the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus…

Tilburg University has appointed Marike Knoef as endowed professor of Capital-Funded Pensions at the Tilburg School of Economics and Management, effective July 1, 2021. Marike Knoef is director of Netspar, professor at Leiden University and Crown-appointed member of the SER. The remit of the chair is the study of capital-funded pensions from an integrated perspective to contribute to the formation of ideas about the…

The new pension system will not be introduced until around 2026, but a team of experts from the independent knowledge network Netspar has already considered scenarios for 2036 and beyond. These scenarios can be advantageous for the government, pension providers, people building up their pensions and other players when considering an uncertain future. The most important conclusion: whatever the transition will bring, no one…

In the coming years, all those involved in the Dutch pension reform will have to communicate a crystal-clear and honest story about the transition to a new pension contract. That is one of the lessons pension experts from the independent knowledge network Netspar have learned after analysing nine other countries that have previously undergone major pension reforms. Onno Steenbeek (EUR and APG) and Benne…

“Rising temperatures as a predictor of long-term equity return dynamics” Historical data contain little information about the impact of future climate change on investment portfolios. We therefore combined historical data with a theoretical model that describes how rising temperatures influence asset prices. Three types of investor were considered: agnostic (historical data only) dogmatic (theoretical model only) and holistic (historical data combined with model). We…

Netspar’s Accumulated Knowledge Plays a Vital Role in the New Pension System for Dutch Citizens The Netspar research network has been nominated for the 2021 Tlburg University Impact Award. The work of this independent pensions think tank has been essential for the new pension system, draft legislation for which was published in 2020. The new pension system being implemented between 2023 and 2027 will…

“Disaster leads to long-term risk aversion for younger people and hence potential pension loss” This study used a well-known standard life cycle model to analyse the influence of a disaster like COVID-19 on the optimal consumption and investment strategy of different generations. The model assumes an individual without higher education, unmarried and no children, and that the disaster affects the risk tolerance. The ages…